Power control circuits for regulating the supply of electric power to an appliance in response to a person touching, or grounding the body of the appliance to ground, are known, wherein the body of the appliance is part of the power circuit. It is known to interpose impedance components between the normal power supply of the appliance and the body of the appliance in order to reduce the power supplied to the body of the appliance to a safe level. Physical connection with the power circuit via these impedance components is still necessary, however, in order for a person to regulate the power supplied to the appliance by touching the body of the appliance. Examples of power control circuits comprising physical connection with the power circuit may be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,919,596; 4,163,923; and 4,211,959.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a power control circuit for regulating the supply of power to an appliance in response to touch that is safer than such circuits heretofore, which have required physical connection with the power circuit.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a power control circuit for regulating the supply of power to an appliance in response to touch, wherein the impedance of its electrical conductors to the body of the appliance is the normal insulation system of the appliance, which is known to be safe.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a power control circuit for regulating the supply of power to an appliance in response to touch whereby the power control circuit may be safely connected to the appliance without altering or adapting the normal insulation and circuitry of the appliance.
Further and other objects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following Summary of the Invention and Description of a Preferred Embodiment of the Invention.